Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 story says "be careful what you wish for"

Call of Duty Black Ops 3

If there's one lesson you should take away from the story trailer for Call of Duty: Black Ops 3, it's: don't ask someone to turn you into a killing machine if you don't want to be, you know, a machine.

From what I can tell, the theme of the latest Call of Duty game is "be careful what you wish for". I predict a game at war with itself, trying to tell a cautionary tale about future technology while also giving you lots of cool future technology to play with.

At one point a character says, "Your mind truly is your greatest weapon," which sounds progressive but is actually to do with the fact that they've literally weaponised some guy's (presumably a playable character) brain through a "direct neural interface". What could possibly go wrong?

It's difficult to get past the line "we wanted a perfect future, and fuck, we got it" without laughing, but after that you can actually get some story details if that's your kind of thing. Your task in the single-player campaign is to find out what's happened to your missing brothers (presumably military, not familial). Here's my prediction: they also had direct neural interfaces, which led them to get mixed up with your enemy, and yours will also go wrong at some point, and we'll all learn a valuable lesson about not trying to control people's brains.

Sound a bit heavy for you? Don't worry, there'll also be zombies.

Latest in Call of Duty
A soldier looks out over the Verdansk map, as a single tear rolls down his cheek.
The original Verdansk map is returning to Call of Duty: Warzone, to celebrate which we get a soldier crying to Nat King Cole
black ops 6 season 1
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Season 3 has been delayed, as the devs say they're 'taking the time to deliver a great experience' for what will be a 'big moment' for Call of Duty
A zombie santa with six fingers leaps at the screen.
Call of Duty admits it's using generative AI to 'help develop some in-game assets', and suddenly all those poorly made calling cards make sense
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in Black Ops 6.
Call of Duty's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles crossover costs like $90 and even the die-hards are in shellshock: 'Cash cow-abunga!'
Ghost, from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2022), looks bleakly at a fellow passenger in a transport.
For COD’s sake: One player’s 763-day legal quest to make Activision unban their account ends in total success: ‘Worth the effort’
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Season 2
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Season 2 will let players battle on boats and bullet-trains, with the Terminator entering the fray 'shortly after launch'
Latest in News
Two brightly colored stormtroopers dressed like Run-DMC stand in front of PAX Australia's WELCOME HOME banner.
Tickets for PAX Australia 2025 are on sale now
An Enshrouded player in a recreation of Erebor from The Lord of the Rings
Kings under the Mountain! 33 Enshrouded players spent 10,000 hours to recreate this iconic location from The Lord of the Rings
A mech awakens.
Mecha Break developer is considering unlocking all mechs following open beta feedback
Lara Croft Unified Art
Tomb Raider developer Crystal Dynamics lays off 17 employees 'to better align our current business needs and the studio's future success'
A long bendy arm stealing money from people in a subway car
'You're a very long arm. You steal things. It's a comedy game,' explains developer of comedy game where you steal things with a very long arm
The heroes are attacked by monsters
Pillars of Eternity is getting turn-based combat to mark its 10th anniversary, and that means PC Gamer editors will soon be arguing about combat mechanics again